Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Today we honor Vince McMahon (born 1945) for his leadership and direction of World Wrestling Entertainment that ultimately built a corporation that earned more than $400M in net revenues in 2007.

McMahon started as a traveling salesman after graduating from Eastern Carolina University. His father, Vince McMahon Sr., did not want him to enter the wrestling business. However, McMahon saw an opportunity. Much of the research material reveres McMahon as a genius. I personally enjoyed this quote, which gives a glimpse of his business acumen:

You need to surround yourself with quality human beings that are intelligent and have a vision.

McMahon put his vision to work when he took over his father's business in the early 1980s and became a wrestling promoter. Before the 1980s, pro wrestling was small, regional and unreliable. McMahon built his empire by breaking the handshake agreements with other promoters. There is an interesting history of collusion for those interested in industrial organization (see the links below). McMahon is also credited with the complete rebranding of wrestling. He invented the term "sports entertainment" and is credited with giving wrestling appeal to adults, instead of "drink your milk and eat your vitamins" kids' programming.

Regardless of personal feelings about sports entertainment, there's no denying that the WWE has brought great wealth to many. That is why today we celebrate Vince McMahon's contributions to the WWE that created wealth.